Market Workers
Few jobs are as multifaceted as running a farmers market, with responsibilities that vary dramatically both within a week and from season to season.
Market managers handle a wide range of duties, including vendor support and coaching, food access, volunteer engagement, strategic planning, HR, finance, fundraising, IT, marketing, promotions and outreach. Smart markets invest in year-round staff positions, recognizing that the off-season planning and strategic work are just as essential to the market's vitality as the busy market days themselves. This page provides resources to help you build and support your market team, from understanding worker classification and competitive compensation to hiring practices, job descriptions, employee policies, and professional development opportunities.
Worker Classification
As markets grow, they typically transition from all-volunteer operations to hiring paid staff—whether part-time or full-time, seasonal or year-round. This growth is exciting, but it comes with an important responsibility: correctly classifying workers as employees or independent contractors. In most cases, market staff should be classified as employees. Getting this classification right protects your market from legal trouble and ensures workers receive appropriate protections and benefits.
Compensation
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This detailed guide from the Farmers Market Legal Toolkit includes important considerations when hiring market staff, working with volunteers, or creating intern positions.
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Direct from the source: the IRS guide on determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor.
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2023 data collected in OFMA’s annual market metrics survey showing worker wages at rural and urban markets for 18 different job titles.
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This research brief from Oregon State University reveals a connection between market closures and inadequate manager compensation. Markets depending on volunteer leadership or paying below-market salaries face higher turnover and likelihood of failure.
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A calculator for estimating the local wage rate that a full-time worker requires to cover the costs of their family’s basic needs where they live.
Market Staff Job Descriptions
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A collection of over fifty job descriptions from farmers markets across Oregon. We add them as we see them announced, and remove old ones—the collection is ever changing! You'll find many examples of what market managers are tasked with, along with executive directors, market assistants, EBT coordinators, and other market staff roles.
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Two brief articles on what the work of running a farmers market is like: one from Michigan, and one from Oregon’s Beaverton Farmers Market.
Hiring
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A collection of interview questions and selection rubrics shared by Oregon farmers markets. There are also examples of job postings and announcements, which are usually separate from a job description, but go hand-in-hand. Browse the collection for real-world examples and inspiration for your own hiring needs.
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Good Food Jobs—Besides being a place to advertise that your market is hiring, the team at GFJ wants to help you write better job announcements. Check out How to Write a More Equitable Job Post, their reasons for reducing job requirements in announcements, and a call to pay more attention to the impact of your Equal Opportunity Statement.
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Let us know when you’re hiring and we’ll spread the word on social media and in our e-newsletter for market staff.
Employee Policies and Handbooks
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Real-world examples from Oregon markets to help you create your own.
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Innovative, inclusive HR policy examples, language and templates. The first edition (2021) is available as a free download, and the updated version (2024) is available at cost.
Professional Development
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A monthly online get-together allowing market staff to discuss challenges, brainstorm solutions, and exchange ideas. Whether you're a seasoned market organizer or new to the role, Peer Learning Circles are opportunities to network, learn from others' experiences, and enhance your skills in market management and community engagement. Join us to connect, collaborate, and grow together as leaders in Oregon's vibrant farmers market community!
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A 4-session online series held each spring to orient new market managers, staff, and board members to essential resources for a successful season. Organized in partnership with farmers market associations across six states, including Oregon. Watch OFMA's social media or subscribe to our e-news to get announcements when registration opens.
More Data on Farmers Market Workers
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Benchmark your market's employment practices with 2023 statewide data on wages, staffing structures, benefits, and demographics.
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Check out the USDA’s 2019 survey for national statistics on employment at farmers market organizations (see pages 19-20).
Webinar Recordings
How farmers markets approach staffing their organizations is part of our work to build a resilient and equitable food system. Learn how to create worker-centered approaches for a diverse and inclusive workplace with templates and policy ideas on compensation, benefits, time-off, hiring, annual reviews and much more.
Learn the key stages of human resources management: recruitment, onboarding, retention, and departures. Aligning these stages with your market's diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility values can uplift and support your staff, help navigate challenges, improve operations, and create a welcoming workplace for staff in any role and stage of their employment journey.